I am never without my trusty calculator! The bulk of the maths they demand is only ever used for doing calculations while training that you will never do again in your working life. Thank gawd for automation.

I had an Alitalia 170 go past 1000′ underneath about a week ago. It looked lovely.

Yes, Thomas Cook Belgium have been training up their own crews on the 757 prior to getting the type in order to have a higher seating capacity aircraft.

…and the pride of the German charter airlines was Condor…Until they got raped by Thomas Cook…

Can’t let that one slip without a bit of qualification!

Thomas Cook was doing just fine as a UK concern when the German owners (Preussag, now TUI) decided that they needed to release their interest in TC so that there would be no conflict of interest with their puchase of Thomson. The result was a sale to C&N Touristik (a part of which is Condor). C&N Touristik themselves decided that the historic name of Thomas Cook (a business that has been trading for over 150 years) was a better/more recognised worldwide name to trade under than their own name, which had its own roots based almost solely in the German market, and chose to change their name rather than make us in the UK change.

AT NO POINT DID ANYONE IN THE UK FORCE ANYTHING ON THE GERMANS SO I FAIL TO SEE HOW CONDOR WERE ‘RAPED’ BY ANYONE OTHER THAN THEIR OWN MANAGEMENT!!!

Bearing in mind the German operation is massively in bed with Lufthansa (we in the UK had the Lufthansa uniform and SOPS forced on us!) I have never quite got my head round the following: 60 years ago my dad flew Spitfires and fought against the Luftwaffe, 60 years later I am effectively employed by Lufthansa. Now can someone remind me who exactly won that war?

Sorry Sandy but I completely disagree. The modification required to accept the A380 are just about exactly the same as the level required to take the 747 when it first appeared.

TCX occasionally had problems with the Globe logo in a similar position if the rudder actuator immediately adjacent had a slight weep of hydraulic fluid.

Air France have also delayed delivery citing out stations not being ready in time as the reason.